 Dr Brabants has right medicine
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:34
Great Britain's Tim Brabants fulfilled his Olympic gold medal dream by topping the flatwater kayak single (K1) 1,000m final yesterday. The 31-year-old took a bronze medal in Sydney eight years ago but only ranked fifth in Athens. After that disappointment, Brabants was in a half-retirement condition, completing his medical studies at the University of Nottingham and working as a doctor. However, he decided to return to the water in 2006 and has been doing well since. In the 2008 ICF World Cup series, he took six medals, including a gold in Duisburg. In the final yesterday, Brabants took the lead at the very beginning and maintained it to the end. He won the gold medal with a time of 3 min 26.323 sec. Defending champion 32-year-old Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway placed second clocking 3:27.342. He took four medals in 2008 ICF World Cup series, two silver and two bronze. Twenty-five-year-old Kenneth Wallace of Australia took the bronze medal with a time of 3:27.485. He is a rising star in this category and is considered to be the best Australian kayaker after his compatriot Nathan Baggaley. "This has been a very successful bit of water for us over the last two weeks", Brabants told British newspaper The Telegraph ahead of the race. "It's time for me to do my part." Great Britain has done surprisingly well in the medal tally these Olympics. By late yesterday, the country had a total of 44, including 18 gold, placing it third behind the US and China. This success spurred Brabants on. "You're watching British athletes winning a medal every day and that's inspiring," he told Canada's National Post. "I'm just happy to get racing. We're bringing home the medals [as a nation] and hopefully I will bring the medals, too." That he did, easily surpassing Adam van Koeverden the Canadian he considered to be his biggest challenge, who finished in eighth place after a disappointing race. Van Koeverden started out strongly, as expected, ahead of the middle of the race which is his strong suit. He launched out and into second place in the first 500m, but was overrun after 750m. Athens silver medalist and world best time (3:24.495) holder Ben Fouhy of New Zealand finished fourth yesterday with a time of 3:29.193. Agencies  (China Daily 08/23/2008 page12) |
